Photography has a rich and illustrious history and is a relatively new medium compared to other art forms. I mean painting has been around for 0ver 30,000 years compared to photography’s relatively short history. Photography has also borrowed much of the visual language from painting and applied it for both composition and content translation purposes.

I personally believe our true goal as photographers is visually translating external /internal references (landscape, nature, people, architecture) and metaphorically (symbolically and/or blatantly) translating our expressive/emotional response to our subject matter into a conceptual bridge (path) for deeper awareness and understanding of the world around us spiritually, emotionally and intellectually. This can be accomplished realistically or in more abstract / conceptual ways.

Last week I spent 2 days reviewing photographic portfolios in Bratislava for the European Month of Photography and also have attended many photo exhibitions and opening during my travels in Eastern Europe over…

Today, a month after getting this new camera, I gazed out upon a beautifully snow-filled scene and realised, to my horror, that my feelings about my surroundings were being overwhelmed by the desire to get a picture of it. “Hey”, said I to my brain,”This camera was bought to be able share what moves me. Impressing others with pretty pictures is just so, not the point!”.

So, when it came to walking out into that stillness, the camera stayed firmly in its bag. It took about half an hour for those feelings that herald natural connection – expanding awareness – peace, to appear. Only then could the camera be allowed to join the process.

It would be nice to report that this led to getting a better series of photos. Not as such. But here is a shot of something.

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Bear with me on this posting – it does get to be inspiring….. promise.

You know how it can sometimes happen that it all seems too much effort to get anything done? Even the stuff you were quite looking forward to, yesterday, can turn up to you with all the attraction of a bowl of soup that’s gone cold and congealed and, “yeuch”. (I remember at school, that sometimes they would serve this tomato soup – that was always too rich anyway, but half the time they left it in the pot for too long and it got really thick – like that, but cold and heavy). Anyway, this is more or less how I felt as I dragged myself to the computer earlier this evening – “Walkabouts and wonders, huh? Well, not much chance of that!” said I. So, abandoning a story I have tried to write three times already this week, I turned to “Freshly Pressed” with the vague idea that I might find something amusing to make it worth spending the effort of pushing the on button – get the idea.

But behold – what dd I see, but a blog title – “I’m tired”. So, I clicked on that and found myself in the slightly odd, funny, querulous and questioning blog-space of a rap admiring young black comedian by the name of Ola. And I found his posting so well observed and to the point, that first, I re-blogged it (you can see it below) and then I found myself writing this –

“So Ola,

What do you do and where do you go, to catch the moment and relight the glow?

Do you go out in search of new sensation, or inward towards your soul dedication?

Do you think your virtue is only in succeeding, or is it in the charge of the making and believing?

See you – see me – cry if you must, but keep on trying. See you – see me – my body is slow, but the spirit loves flying.”

Now, that got written in 10 minutes flat – that’s the power of inspiration – it really is contagious, even to a guy who was dead on his feet 10 minutes before, and who last wrote in rhyme about 20 years ago, but listened to a little rap on Ola’s site a few minutes before. There is more to art than just cleverness – training helps, of course, but there is a mystic something extra that anyone may touch.